Roy Hodgson gets a head start in how to beat the heat in Brazil

Roy Hodgson will travel to Manaus early next year to begin planning how to combat the extreme weather conditions in England’s opening World Cup match against Italy.

The Amazonian city stages the game on June 14, which is set to be played in fierce heat and humidity of more than 80 per cent.

At the request of television schedulers, the kick-off time was moved from 9pm to 6pm local time, making acclimatising to the conditions even more vital.

A World Cup workshop for all nations in the tournament will take place in February but Hodgson is keen to assess potential options in Manaus beforehand.

“We didn’t want to be based up in the north but we have got one game up there in Manaus, which will be very interesting as it presents very different challenges to the games in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, but we will be ready for that,” Hodgson told thefa.com.

“I shall make a visit there before we have the workshop — I will go early with Adrian Bevington and we will also spend a day or so in Miami to check on our potential camp there before we go to Rio [England’s main base for the tournament].

“We have already decided that we will go with the team to Manaus two days before, not the usual one day before and we hope that acclimatisation, and the acclimatisation in Miami before, will stand us in good stead.”

Hodgson’s initial concerns prompted the mayor of Manaus, Arthur Virgilio, to state he did not want England to come.

The manager was more positive today and said: “I can understand the Brazilians wanting to spread the World Cup around all of their major cities and Manaus is a major city in Brazil.

“As far as tourists are concerned, after Rio it might be one of the places everyone wants to go.

“So we should be thankful that we’re going to have a chance to see another iconic Brazilian city and get to know it for a few days and hope that the preparation we do in terms of acclimatisation will stand us in good stead for a game against our European counterparts.”